Session with the Deans:
Fall ��02
-- Vincent Rubino
Once again, the Moment took the opportunity to chat with
Dean Galil and Dean Friedman concerning new developments at
SEAS over the past few months, as well as to discuss several
topics that affect the University as a whole.
The biggest change this semester is of course the new university
administration. When asked to describe their first impressions
of President Bollinger, Dean Galil and and Dean Friedman each
praised his outlook and proclaimed that they expect to see
��great things�� from his administration. Dean Galil asserted
that President Bollinger has been doing a ��wonderful job��
and that he thinks that Bollinger is the correct person to
��take Columbia University to the next level.��
On the issue of the growing student body, Dean Galil said
that it is evidence that Columbia Engineering is becoming
increasingly desirable, since more matriculated into SEAS
this year than any other previous year. The admissions criteria
have also become even more stringent; this year, for example,
the average SAT score for the class of ��05 was 15 points higher
for SEAS than for CC: 1440 and 1425 respectively. Unfortunately,
this growth is limited, since there is always the issue of
space for the students to live.
Dean Galil and Dean Friedman both accredit the success of
the engineering school to the ��breadth of the education it
offers.�� With the new minors in full swing, Columbia Engineering
arguably offers more opportunities to engineers than any other
engineering program. In reference to the new music minor,
Dean Galil remarked that incoming SEAS students ��can now learn
to play the violin, as well as fix it when it breaks.��
Along with the student body, the faculty and departmental
budgets have also grown over the past year. According to Dean
Friedman, the faculty is now at 131 members, while in the
early 90��s the faculty was hovering around 95 members. Dean
Galil reports that many departments including, but not limited
to BME, Material Sciences, and Computer Science have been
granted millions of dollars of funding towards research. Dean
Galil also commented that there is ��a huge potential for commercialization��
in many of the engineering fields. In fact, SEAS is already
profiting from royalties on a number of patents and copyrights
developed in the past few years, such as the patent for Mpeg-2:
a method for encoding video and audio that is commonly used
in all DVD software on most computers worldwide.
Finally, Dean Galil and Dean Friedman commented on the possibility
of a new science tower. The tower would most likely be located
above the Dodge Fitness Center, since that is the last piece
of unoccupied Columbia property. While both deans agreed that
the construction of the tower would be a great addition to
the University, they both said that it would most likely not
be built fir some time. Nevertheless, it is still their hope
that such a facility will be constructed.
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